19:05
Tieng Anh Vui
Plans to cut the legal aid bill by awarding contracts to the lowest bidder have been dropped, Justice Secretary Chris Grayling has announced.
In an interview with the Times newspaper, Mr Grayling said the move was part of a deal he had reached with the Law Society for England and Wales.
Opponents of the policy had warned the policy would "irrevocably damage the criminal justice system".
But other cuts to legal aid are expected to go ahead.
Ministers had intended to introduce price competitive tendering (PCT) as part of a string of reforms aiming to cut the £2bn annual legal aid bill in England and Wales by £350m a year.
While this change will be dropped, other savings are expected to be found by bringing in a cap on contracts for duty solicitor work at police stations.
A 17.5% cut in all legal aid fees is also due to be phased in by 2015.
'Factory mentality'
The government also plans to set up a working party to look at how thousands of short hearings can be avoided, or dealt with by email or video link, BBC legal correspondent Clive Coleman said.
Its final proposals on legal aid reform will be subject to a six-week consultation, our correspondent added.
In a Commons debate on Wednesday, Labour MP Karl Turner had warned: "The government's proposals for PCT will irrevocably damage the criminal justice system.
"PCT will inevitably lead to the market being dominated by the big multinationals, the usual suspects - G4S, Serco, Capita.
"And I fear many new entrants to the market who have absolutely no experience whatsoever in delivering criminal justice will dominate the market."
He warned it would no longer be viable for "small businesses, the expert businesses who have established their practices over a number of years" to "continue to exist".
Mr Turner concluded: "We will see the cornerstone of a civilised society reduced to a factory mentality where quantity will trump quality at each and every time."
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